Entertainment

JoJo Whilden/FX
The 2019 Emmy Nominations Broke Records, But Still Had Some Infuriating Snubs

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Nominations for the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards were announced on Tuesday, Jul. 16 and the most surprising Emmy snubs of 2019 prove, among other things, that award show voters still can't get it right when it comes to Pose. Breaking barriers with five trans and nonbinary actors of color in series regular roles, FX's sumptuously produced ballroom drama only earned an acting nom for Billy Porter. However, the snubbed Indya Moore, Mj Rodriguez, and Dominique Jackson are in good company; a handful of A-list movie stars who deigned to appear on TV this year were shut out of awards, too.

Surprising approximately no one, Game of Thrones dominated this year's nominations with 32 noms — the most ever received by one series in a single season, according to Deadline. Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which swept the major comedy categories last year, picked up an additional 20 nominations. HBO’s fascinating disaster miniseries Chernobyl picked up a surprising 19 nominations. NBC’s Saturday Night Live counts six guest actor nominations among its 18 nominations overall. And, to the relief of many, Ava Duvernay's difficult to watch (but incredibly necessary) miniseries When They See Us broke through to voters to pick up 16 nominations this year.

Here are the shows and actors who didn't fare so well.

Pose

Michael Parmelee/FX

Although Pose did manage to score two Emmy nominations this year for its debut season (one for Best Drama in addition to Billy Porter's Lead Actor nom), the women and nonbinary actors of Pose were snubbed yet again. Pose presented a rare opportunity for multiple trans and nonbinary actors to be represented at the Emmys with Mj Rodriguez, Indya Moore, and Dominique Jackson all in contention. But sadly, none of them managed to break through this year.

A-List Movie Stars

Amazon Prime

Although the so-called Golden Age of Television has lured movie stars back to the small screen, both Julia Roberts and George Clooney were snubbed for their TV work this year. Roberts helmed Amazon Prime's Homecoming, which was totally shut out. (Meanwhile, the other Homecoming — Beyoncé's — snagged six nominations.) Clooney was eligible for his work on Hulu's Catch-22 adaptation, which he also executive produced and directed two episodes of. But alas, he came up empty handed.

True Detective

Warrick Page/HBO

Although its Season 3 star Mahershala Ali earned a nomination this year, True Detective couldn't quite recover from its lamentable Season 2 slump to pick up any other major nominations. By contrast, its debut season picked up a dozen nominations for HBO back in 2014.

Kristen Bell

Colleen Hayes/NBC

After three seasons, The Good Place finally broke into the Outstanding Comedy Series category this year and picked up an additional acting nom for lead actor Ted Danson. Unfortunately, the series' crown jewel Kristen Bell got shut out for Best Comedy Actress, which is, to put it lightly, a travesty.

The Good Fight

Patrick Harbron/CBS

Earlier this summer, CBS made the excellent call to start airing The Good Fight on the network during primetime, instead of making it a CBS All-Access exclusive. It was good news for fans of The Good Wife, who were frustrated that in order to keep up with their beloved show's spin-off, they'd have to tack on yet another streaming service charge to their monthly bills. But the bold move wasn't enough to get Emmy voters' eyeballs on the show and add to The Good Wife's considerable Emmys haul.

Tuca & Bertie

Netflix made a huge splash in the Outstanding Animated Series category this year with surprise noms for both Big Mouth and Bojack Horseman. Sadly, the innovative and female friendship-focused Tuca & Bertie got snubbed, as IndieWire put it, "in favor of comedies well past their prime." Ouch.

Timothy Olyphant & Ian McShane

James Minchin/HBO

Before Westworld, there was Deadwood, HBO's flagship western which dominated the Emmy Awards back in the mid-aughts. This past year, Deadwood got a post-series finale movie, which earned an Emmy nom for Best TV Movie as well as one for Cinematography. However, the series' iconic stars, Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane, were ignored for their efforts.

You can see how everyone who did manage to get nominated fares at the Emmys when the broadcast airs Sept. 22 on Fox.

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